Field
The described embodiments relate to techniques for monitoring and communicating with a battery pack. More specifically, the described embodiments relate to techniques for communicating data and a signal representing a temperature state of the battery pack via a common signal line.
Related Art
The ever-increasing functionality and performance of portable electronic devices is, in part, due to advances in power sources, such as battery packs. Modern battery packs in portable electronic devices typically include circuits that monitor characteristics of the battery packs, for example, the voltage across a battery in a battery pack, a charging current, an internal impedance, the available capacity, etc. This information is typically communicated to a host portable electronic device via one or more signal lines.
In addition, for safety reasons, it is often important to at least periodically monitor the temperature of a battery pack. For example, the temperature of the battery pack may be monitored during charging. The temperature of the battery pack is typically conveyed to a host portable electronic device via a separate signal line from the one used to convey the other characteristics of the battery pack.
However, having separate signal lines to convey the battery pack characteristics and the temperature consumes valuable area or real estate in portable electronic devices, thereby increasing the cost. In addition, these separate signal lines increase the complexity and the power consumption in portable electronic devices.